Systems of the kind referred to above are used in automated foundry plants, in which a gripper moved and controlled by a programmed mechanical manipulator is adapted to move gripping objects, e.g. so-called core masks, from one station to another, and to perform various control operations on same, such as supplying vacuum for lifting associated mould cores or supplying compressed air to various mechanisms in the core mask itself.
In previous systems of the kind referred to above, problems have arisen in connection with the relative movements between the gripper and the gripping objects, when the distance between the gripper and the gripping object in question is small, such as when the gripping object is about to be gripped or just after its release from the gripper. These problems are due to the construction of the means for establishing temporary fluid communication between the gripper and the gripping object, these means in said previous systems often comprising coupling members based on the male-female principle, i.e. with one coupling part being inserted into an opening in the other. The problems themselves are mainly
(a) that it may be difficult to mate the two coupling parts in each pair, and
(b) that relative movement between the gripper and the gripping object in directions transverse to the coupling and decoupling direction may cause damage to projecting parts of the coupling means.